Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Mini Travel Log: Waitomo + Rotorua, New Zealand

While many people are fascinated with the Lord of the Rings movie and its location of the movie shoot which is located on the South Island, they did not notice the hidden beauty and treasures that are on the North Island of New Zealand. The glow worm caves hidden in the region of Waitomo for example awe tourists more than any other plain mountains of the Lord of the Rings. Inside the pitch dark caves, you can imagine yourself floating in the vast darkness of space with millions of bright universe stars shining brightly above your head. Why is that so? This is because of the rare glow worms found only exclusively in New Zealand live inside the caves and emit lights to attract other insects for food. If you find fireflies are cool, this is ten times cooler. Next up, destination Rotorua. This city is known for its hot springs and geysers. There is also a big beautiful lake named after Rotorua as well. With so many geysers spurting and big sulphur deposits, the city smells of rotten egg and earned the nickname Sulphur City. The Pohutu Geyser in the area is a main attraction and it spurts almost every hour up to a height of 100 feet (10 storeys).